All posts tagged Suffolk

Homicide detectives made an arrest Monday in the cold case murders of two women found dead in Suffolk County in the 1990s.

John Bittrolff, 48 years old, of Manorville was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the women’s murders.

He was expected to be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Central Islip.

The two murders have been unsolved for more than two decades. Rita Tangredi, 31, was discovered nude, beaten and strangled in a wooded area off of Esplanade Drive in East Patchogue on Nov. 2, 1993. Read More »

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law Wednesday a bill that will deploy nearly 250 speed cameras to school zones on Long Island and in New York City.

The governor joined a handful of state legislators, the county executives from Nassau and Suffolk counties, students and activists at a press conference inside Bethpage High School’s gymnasium in Nassau County to announce the safety measure.

The cameras will certainly boost local revenues since speeders will be issued $50 fines, according to state Assemblyman Chuck Lavine (D-Glen Cove), but legislators from both sides of the aisle agreed that safety was the priority.

“I have a very vivid recollection of having been a youngster … in about 1960, and my friends and I are playing ball in a school yard,” Mr. Lavine said. “And we hear the screech of brakes. And we hear a scream. And one of our friends did not survive that particular day.”

More than 200 cars a day exceed the school zone speed limit by 25 miles an hour in Nassau County, according to Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, citing a recent traffic study. Read More »

A baby deer was saved from frigid waters near Davis Park Marina in Fire Island Thursday afternoon by Suffolk County Police Department officers.

Marine Bureau Police Officers Robert Femia and Peter Bogachunas were heading back to the marina when they spotted the creature about 30 yards from the shore around 1:04 p.m, according to officials.

The pair pulled the baby from the seven- to eight-feet-deep waters and onto their boat, covering it with a blanket. “The deer was not moving and appeared to be in shock,” the department said in a press release. Read More »

In this photo provided by the New York City Police Department, a female dolphin lies stranded on the beach in Queens.

It’s been a wild Friday in Greater New York. A dolphin washed ashore around 9:30 a.m. in the Rockaways, prompting Emergency Services Unit officers to work with the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation to keep the mammal alive.

Out in Suffolk County, a two-and-a-half-foot-long alligator was captured by a resident in Mastic Beach. After taping its mouth shut, police took the creature to a local pet shop, whose owner suspected the alligator was abandoned by someone who feared the animal would grow too large. Read More »

New York City and other municipalities in the region are preparing to revitalize areas around under-developed transit hubs, officials announced Thursday.

The plans include adding housing and commercial space along commuter rail lines to encourage more public transportation use and to curtail sprawl. New York City will join Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties and four cities in Connecticut in the bi-state collaboration.

Adding new housing next to transit stations will help meet the future demand for new homes while also cutting back on energy needs, said Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, which is coordinating the effort. “If we can do this, we can do it in a way that reduces energy demand and reduces the need for families to have a second car,” he said.

The municipalities received a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop their plans. It was the first time since the Nixon administration that the federal government has allocated funds for regional planning, Yaro said. Read More »